Europe Trip #15: Salzburg - 4 - The Cathedral

This final post in my Salzburg series covers the Cathedral located in the middle of the old part of town. This cathedral is a Catholic church [apparantly there are about 42 Catholic churches in Salzburg - and 1 Protestant church!]. Entry is by donation, and they are happy for people to take photographs! I did see a sign [written in German of course] which said something about photographs - I presume it referred to not taking photos during services?

The first two photos are of mosaics on the ceilings, followed by part of the organ, then other bits and pieces. Obviously it was quite dim inside which made taking photographs quite challenging.

I won´t say much more here except that it´s well worth the visit [actually, Salzburg itself is well worth the visit]. Enjoy!

Europe Trip #14: Salzburg - 3 - Hohensalzburg Fortress

Hohensalzburg Fortress is an impressive structure, built up on a hill overlooking the entire area. The first building and much of the wall was present in 1077 AD, so it certainly qualifies as historic! Given the size of it, it must have been quite a busy place in it´s day. What I haven´t included here are pictures of the cannons, so they must had had a few enemies from time to time also :-).

Access is by either walking or by a very steep cable-car, entry is EUR$10.50 including access and return cable-car trips [I´m lazy - you can guess which option I took!]. I get the impression that much of the structure is off-limits to tourists as it didn´t take that long to get around and through it, but it was still well worth a visit.

You get panoramic views all around the area, and inside there is plenty to see and do including including places to eat and buy the obligatory souvenirs [if you´re not after a fortress-specific souvenir, it´s cheaper in town :-)].

It was a bit drizzly the day we went up, so the pictures don´t really do justice to the place - all I can say is that it should be added to your to do list if you visit Salzburg!

Europe Trip #13: Salzburg - 2 - The Old Town

Salzburg is known for two main things:

- Birthplace of Mozart [the airport is named after him]
- The Sound of Music movie/ musical

Rather than do a Sound of Music tour [I could think of much worse to do], I kept in the old part of the town and did some more exploring. Here are some more pictures from my wanderings, including a photo of Mozart :-) The final photo includes the Hohensalzburg Fortress which I´ll cover in the next post.

Europe Trip #12: Salzburg - 1 - The Old Town

After being in Bled for close on a week, we jumped on a train and went to Salzburg, Austria, for 2 nights. Due to timings, we only had 1 full day there, so I didn´t get to look around anywhere near as much as I would have liked to.

I did however make a point of spending time in the old part of town. Now in European terms, old doesn´t mean built in the 1930´s or anything :-) - some of this place would be over 1000 years old.

Like any old places, there where quite a few narrow lanes [much like some of those pokey little towns in England], but it also includes large open spaces, particularly in the middle of the old town, near the Cathedral.

More on the Cathedral and the Castle later; here are some pictures of the old part of Salzburg.